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Legal News of the Day: Disabled Employees Must Be Appointed to Vacant Positions if Qualified

On Friday, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals held that if qualified to hold a given position within his/her company, a disabled employee must be appointed to that position. In March, the same three-judge panel giving Friday’s opinion recommended that a 2000 case holding that the Americans with Disabilities Act did not require that qualified disabled employees be appointed to open positions be overturned. Ultimately, the panel relied on Circuit Rule 40(e), which allows for a decision not to be overturned by the full court if the three-judge panel’s proposed opinion is circulated to all of the active members of the court and a majority votes not to rehear the case en banc.